Sarah was the one to wake me up from that sleep at the center, her claws, though still a bit tiny, carrying a jolt of electrical energy that made me leap from the seat. After telling her never to do that again, I stopped my Piplup from laughing and recalled them both. It was a bit harsh, but after an awakening like that, you can't expect me to be less than groggy.

I ate the free lunch they served and was informed that my Pokemon had already eaten their fill while they were being healed. My heart was still pounding from the electric jolt when I left the center, but it gave me enough energy to put my running shoes to good use. I headed North towards my next destination, Eterna City, but I reached an obstacle not five minutes out of town. There was a slop, one that I thought I could climb up, but it was covered in loose rocks, dirt and debris that made it impossible. If I could get enough speed, I'm sure I could make it all the way to the top, but not even my running shoes could carry me that fast. I would have to find a way around.

I walked through the grass to find a path or something, but another five minutes of trudging through the underbrush afforded me nothing. I tripped over a couple of empty Pokeballs and pocketed them, but it wasn't until I decided to head back to Oreburgh that I encountered some wild Pokemon.

Well, encountered is the nice way of putting it. Actually, I tripped over them. Geodude look exactly like boulders whenever they're curled up, and the grass is too tall to see them all. I must have stumbled over three of them, and my Piplup was eager to dispatch of them with some well-placed Bubbles. All the commotion attracted a different type of Pokemon, a Machop, who seemed interested in testing his skills.

I called out Sarah and prepared to do battle with the small, grey humanoid, but it had other plans. It grabbed the three Geodude that we had fought and, much to my team's amusement, began juggling them. It was actually a pretty good show, considering how big they were compared to his smaller frame. It told a great deal about his strength and skill as well. I decided to turn it into a capture battle, telling Sarah to weaken it instead of knocking it out cold.

Despite its show of strength, it was still at a lower level than my team. It tried to use a Low Kick to trip my Luxio, but she simply leaped over him and landed on his head with her evil little grin, which was even moreso thanks to her new little fangs. When he went to make some striking remark, she bit him on the nose. As he flinched, I had her Tackle him.

I reached for one of the balls that I found on the ground, then stopped as a sudden feral conversation broke out. The Machop said something that made Sarah stop, and I waited for them to be finished before I interrupted by inflating the capture capsule. The Machop turned to me and, surprisingly, nodded. I caught him and took him to the Center to patch him up. When I took him out to get a good look at him, he looked back at me expectantly. I wish I could understand these creatures better.

I thought of a name for him; Cole. It'd remind me of this place when I used him, and it also gave me another thought: Maybe he was interested in my Luxio's strength? There was a role he could fulfill right now that none of my other Pokemon could, and it would make him stronger in the process. I could teach him Rock Smash.

But first I'd have to go to a place where there were plenty of rocks to smash. Maybe some calculated, yet somewhat mindless destruction would help me think about how to proceed. The answer crashed into me when I was heading to Oreburgh Gate. Bitch careened into me as he ran into the cave, stopping just long enough to tell me that he was heading the long way around to Eterna City through Floaroma Town, and, at Eterna, he could pick up a Bicycle. That was it! I let him barrel past me, then continued into the cave.

Once there, I showed the Machop to the two safe-to-destroy boulders not far from the entrance. I pulled the HM out of my backpack, stuck it to his curious head, and pressed the button in the middle of the disk. It spun of its own accord, which was fascinating to watch, and when it stopped, it remained stuck to his head. A normal one would have broken, but Hidden Machines use very little energy to teach their techniques to the Pokemon. After all, they're just filled with knowledge of something the Pokemon, deep down, knows how to use already, unlike a normal Technical Machine, which dregs up powerful moves that the Pokemon's ancestral counterparts used to know, but evolved out of.

Teaching it Rock Smash was easy, and he enjoyed every second of it. Cole broke the two boulders beside us like they were nothing, already impressed at himself. However, instead of jumping for joy, he was calm and relaxed, taking a laid-back approach that was very refreshing to me. I showed him to the boulder that impeded further progress through the cave, and he smashed through it.

We went deeper, and, to my surprise, we found an underground lake. It was more remarkable than the upper level, the darkness shrouding the cave making the water seem like black glass than the clear blue of the outside sky. It was alien, and though it is beautiful, it keeps us from going any further. That's alright; it'll keep us from getting too distracted from our goals.

I let my Pokemon out for dinner, realizing that I had lost track of time training my new addition. Cole was powerful and he kept a level head, finding his own amusement in juggling and doing other tricks with the stones he destroys. Royal is endlessly amused with his new jester, and Sarah is using her new claws to fish, waiting by the calm river's edge for a hapless aquatic denizen to poke its fishy head up high enough to get a heart-stopping jolt from my feline friend. She may not be able to use those dangerous claws in battle, considering how most Pokemon would be unaffected by such unfocused attacks on their energy-type barriers, but it did make a good tool.

I just had to turn her latest catch down. It was a fat silverscale, a generic, non-Pokemon fish that most people used for food, but I just couldn't find it appetizing. I am petting her every now and again as she eats, her deeper purring adding another tranquil element to the scene. I think she's warming up to me. That's good; it'll help any other new Pokemon I capture see how healthy and powerful my companions are. It might have helped catch Cole!

Anyway, I am getting a bit hungry. I'll dip into my ration stash and head back to Jubilife before sundown. I may have to wait until Sarah goes to sleep, though; I could hurt her feelings to spurn her generous gift and then eat something else. I think I might, anyway. The possibility is enough to make me not consider it. Until then, I guess I'll just enjoy Cole's show, with him juggling Roy and the Piplup adding his own Water Sport attack for dramatic effect. I didn't think Pokemon Contests were for me, but my Pokemon seem to be somewhat built for showing off. I'll put some more research into them when I get back to a computer.